Corsair TX850 850W Power Supply Review

Conclusion

With such a wide selection of power supplies on the market, finding the right unit is often a daunting task for both newcomers and enthusiasts alike. By default, many consumers gravitate towards Corsair’s units due to the fact that they have a reputation of building some of the best products around while offering them for a fair price. If anything, this review has shown us that Corsair’s reputation in this field is well earned.

The TX850 is one of those power supplies that make us wish that more companies would follow Corsair’s lead and put some effort into their products’ development. It is a typical off-the-shelf CWT build with a bit of Corsair engineering thrown in for good measure but the performance this unit showed belies its price tag. A mere six months ago finding a product of the TX850’s caliber in the sub-$200 price range let alone the $150 bracket it now sits in was next to impossible. With this consideration, we really have to applaud Corsair for gradually reducing this unit’s price to the point where it is accessible to such a broad market.

Performance-wise there really isn’t much to fault the TX850 with since it performed extremely well in all of our tests and in some benchmarks it even stood toe to toe with products costing nearly double its price. Efficiency wasn’t quite up to what we had hoped while the amount of heat and noise it produced didn’t live up to our expectations of a Corsair product but those were minor annoyances. To be honest with you, the noise produced by the 140mm fan wouldn’t be an issue unless you are running a mostly passive system and we all know how rare that will be if you are sporting an 850W power supply loaded at nearly 100%.

From cable lengths to its 5-year warranty, there is much more to the Corsair TX850 than just some great performance figures. We have been talking a lot about price in this conclusion but that’s only because the TX850 is an amazing value for those of you in the market for a power supply. Granted, the fact that it doesn’t have modular cables may turn some of you off but the question that begs answering is simple: what kind of price premium are you willing to shell out for the convenience of modular cables?


Pros:

- Good performance
- Long, sleeved cables
- 5-year warranty
- Durable finish
- Relatively quiet
- Great build quality


Cons:

- Efficiency could be better
- Cables not sleeved all the way into PSU housing
- Gets quite hot at higher loads